Spurs notebook: Bonner’s defense has been critical for Spurs

LOS ANGELES — For as long as his team’s first-round series against the Lakers continues, Spurs forward Matt Bonner occasionally is going to be asked to guard hulking Los Angeles center Dwight Howard.

As such, Bonner is all but positive he’ll wind up on the national highlight shows, perhaps as soon as right after Game 3 on Friday night at Staples Center.

“I’m sure I’ll get dunked on at some point and make the top 10,” Bonner said.

So far in the series, the 6-foot-10 Bonner — heretofore known as a 3-point specialist — has held his own as a key member of the Spurs’ bench brigade.

The 33-year-old contributed 10 points and five rebounds to each of the Spurs’ two victories, making 7 of 11 field goals and 3 of 4 from 3-point range.

It has been Bonner’s (perhaps unlikely) ability to at least put up a fight against Howard and Lakers forward Pau Gasol on defense that has allowed him to stay on the floor.

“Matty’s been great,” Tim Duncan said. “We put a game plan together, told him he’d have to guard (Howard) sometimes, and he’s been real active.”

Bonner describes his approach to defending Howard as “Chumbawamba defense” (that band’s 1997 hit “Tubthumping” included the lyric “I get knocked down, but I get up again.”)

That approach seemed to frustrate the Lakers’ big man enough in Game 2 that Howard threw an elbow at Bonner’s face.

“I’m not here to frustrate anybody,” Bonner said. “Our only chance, especially with somebody like me, is to play as hard as I can and do my best to match their physicality.”

The Big Three-Seven: Duncan turned 37 on Thursday, continuing with his career-long tradition of celebrating his birthday in the midst of a playoff series.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich pointed to Duncan’s competitiveness as the reason he has been able to thrive even as he nears retirement age.

“He has an unbelievable feeling of responsibility for his place in the program and wants to sustain that performance night after night,” Popovich said.

Popovich predicted when the day comes that Duncan cannot meet his own standard, the Spurs’ icon will walk away.

“It might be in the middle of a game, and I could see him walking off the court saying, ‘No I can’t. I’m not pulling my weight anymore. I’m gone,’” Popovich said. “And I’ll be right behind him.”

Postseason kings: Wednesday night’s 101-92 victory in Game 2 marked the 119th postseason win Popovich and Duncan have shared in their 16 seasons together, more than any coach-player duo in NBA history.

With it, the tandem surpassed the Lakers’ Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant, who teamed up for 118 postseason victories from 2000-11.